This study compares the original version of the book Roots of Brazil (Raízes do Brasil), by Sergio Buarque de Holanda in 1936, with those revised by the author in 1948 and 1956. His interventions substantially shifted central topics of the text. Before this metamorphosis, the essay posited that Brazil needed a strong state, with oligarchic features, eventually authoritarian, which would mingle itself with the effectiveness that distinguishes the Brazilian national character “in a counterpoint” – a musical metaphor suggesting the combination of two melodic lines that would retain their individuality. This article argues that the “organic statism” prescribed by Holanda is closer to the authoritarian authors of the 1930’s than to the democratic pioneering usually attributed to the book. Nevertheless, it differs from them by the subordination of the State’s role to the essential features of the society.